One dress, three ways!

My newest  project is to make dresses for my three best friends. I am an intermediate sewer. I make my own clothes reasonably successfully minus the odd 'what was i thinking?' moment in either fabric choice or pattern.

I'm what is politely called super curvy. That is one of the main reasons I wanted to make my own clothes. I hated shopping. I could never find anything i wanted to wear in the plus size rails and would come home in tears feeling fat, frumpy and miserable.

Not any more. Making clothes that fit me has been such a massive confidence boost, both in the new skills I have learnt but also, and maybe more importantly, in how I feel about my body. I am tall, have big boobs and a belly. All those years of struggling to find a stitch to wear are gone, now I can slip on a handmade dress and feel fabulous, even if I am just popping to the shop for milk, because MY clothes flatter my figure rather than disguise it.

So back to my three friends...I thought it would be an interesting challenge to make and fit the same dress on three very different bodies...my lovelies are all quite slim and all very different in build . I want them to feel as gorgeous, in a made to measure dress, as I feel.

The pattern I have chosen, after long consultations and flicking through pattern magazines, is McCall's M7085. This is a simple lined shift dress with darts through the waist and back to give a lovely long curvy shape. Very easy to sew.

I thought this would be the most flattering to all three friends while at the same time offering lots of scope to make each dress really personal. So we headed off to the amazing Abakan store in Mostyn, Noth wales.

The final fabric choices are all very different, in both texture as well as colour. There was a lot to choose from in the store. Dress one has gone for a soft cotton Paisley fabric in turquoise and brown . This is very light and drapes well and being a little sheer will benefit from the lining. With a big pattern there is going to be a emphasis on pattern matching. It will be cap-sleeved with a sweetheart neck and will be above the knee.

dress two 

Dress two is a two way stretch cotton twill. It is obviously stiffer than the cotton and is very firm to handle. i think this will give a very structured look to the dress. It will be sleeveless with a slash neck finishing at mid-thigh. I am not sure if it will be lined, due to the stretch fabric.

Dress three is a  very lightweight silky printed poly with lots of movement. I think this will be the hardest to sew as it does like to move about but drapes beautifully. This one will be just above knee length with mid sleeves and a sweetheart neck.

For each dress i will make a muslin ( a mock up of the dress) from the unaltered pattern pieces. As each of my models measurements range between at least two pattern sizes I will  fit the muslin to their bodies and then transfer those alterations back to the pattern pieces before finally cutting and sewing the dress.

i'll post loads more pics as I go so you can see how it going.  

Ohhh! i am so excited to get started, i can hardly wait!